When comparing ChromeOS vs OS X Mavericks, the Slant community recommends ChromeOS for most people. In the question“What is the best laptop OS?” ChromeOS is ranked 52nd while OS X Mavericks is ranked 59th. The most important reason people chose ChromeOS is:
On the other hand it’s pretty difficult to mess up “just a web browser”. You might get a few less phone calls from your elderly relatives about how they broke their fancy new email and internet machine.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro “Just a web browser”
On the other hand it’s pretty difficult to mess up “just a web browser”. You might get a few less phone calls from your elderly relatives about how they broke their fancy new email and internet machine.
Pro Android apps
Android apps add basic offline functionality.
Pro Booting & updating
Chrome OS boots from power off in about 7 seconds. So you don't need to leave it on and consuming power when it's not in use. You NEVER download and update any apps, although the OS does update itself. Web apps live on servers, so they're always up to date and virus free.
Pro Full laptop form-factor
Unlike tablets, the home of most hyper user friendly operating systems, Chromebooks come on an array of devices that don’t require you to buy any flimsy keyboard attachments.
Pro Pushes oneself to use (and learn how to use) cloud based solutions
With this ChromeOS also eliminates the time needed to configure the local environment.
Pro Battery optimization
There are many features that improve battery life, such as App Nap.
Pro Great if you don't like El Capitan and up.
Relatively fast and retains many design decisions of the OS X of old.
Pro Memory compression features
You can have a lot of things running yet have plenty of memory left.
Pro Free if you have Snow leopard or Lion
Pro Very tweakable
There are many things you can still change through the terminal.
Pro Still supported so far
Cons
Con “Just a web browser”
There aren’t really any applications you can get on ChromeOS. If you can do it via Chrome you can do it on a Chromebook, but not much else.
Con No icons on desktop
Chrome OS does not allow to place icons or shortcuts on the desktop, only the background picture can be changed.
Con You might need a cloud printer
If you don’t live in the paperless world yet and you haven’t bought a new printer in the last three years you may need money up for a new cloud enabled printer.
Con Outdated OS version
No longer supported by Apple (neither bugfixes or security fixes). The last release was in 2014.
Con Slower compared to previous versions
Con Very hard to find
Apple is very keen to only show the latest version.
Con Can't delete base applications
Con Looks nasty, and slow
